The Tories have launched a nasty dirty tricks campaign in a knife-edge constituency ahead of the next election. Conservative activists are ringing voters in marginal Wells and pretending to be calling on behalf of the respected local Lib-Dem MP Tessa Munt. They then ask the voters if they wanted to see David Cameron or Ed Miliband as Prime Minister at the next election. The calls were all made from a number in Southend, Essex. The Mirror has confirmed that

To me it had been clear that Fiona Woolf should step down as Chair of the Inquiry into historic sex abuse ever since it became clear that she had been on dinner party terms with Sir Leon Brittain. It’s not that she had done anything wrong, but it was clear at that point that it would be very difficult for everyone to have confidence in her impartiality. Once the victims had said that they didn’t support her continuing in the role, it was only a matter of time before she resigned, as she did this evening.

You can listen to discussion on the whole issue here from the start of the broadcast, or go straight to Tessa at 36:50.

Sad it’s come to this, but it might have been anticipated. She supported a lot of things that the previous interviewee, representing the victims, had said.

She was asked where she thought we should go next.

Tessa suggested that the pubic should have a role in choosing the next Chair. She suggested using social media to get potential names and then allowing people to express concerns which could then be investigated before any appointments were made. She said that we shouldn’t entertain the idea of people’s reputations being trashed on Twitter, but if people had serious concerns, they could be looked into. There needed to be a lot more transparency in the process.

Tessa Munt, Lib Dem MP for Wells in Somerset, has explained over at her own website why she’s taken the decision to boycott Israeli goods and services:

This summer, the majority of people I meet out and about are disturbed, upset and angry. It’s clear that Israel has crossed a line. It’s not ok to drop bombs on civilians and the sight of parents carrying the remains of their small children in plastic bags is sickening. Bombed hospitals and schools, an entire population stunned and damaged is criminal. It simply cannot be justified.

WELLS MP Tessa Munt has shared naked men with leading Liberal Democrats in Parliament – in the form of naked calendar Legends of Somerset.

Her party leader, Nick Clegg, and fellow MPs David Heath of Somerton and Frome, Don Foster of Bath, Simon Hughes of Bermondsey and Old Southwark, David Laws of Yeovil and Jeremy Browne of Taunton, all agreed to have their photo taken with the hit charity calendar.

The calendar is being sold here to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support.

There’s been a spate of articles and comments by Liberal Democrat politicians which, at a guess, isn’t co-ordinated, but they all address the same themes – the problems with the way that we do politics and lack of trust in politicians and institutions.

Paddy Ashdown told the Times (£), reported also for free in the Guardian that public faith in British institutions was “crumbling into dust” with some very harsh words for the BBC and NHS:

The BBC is revealed as an organisation which can’t manage its own affairs, misspends public money and seems to have been complicit in aggrandising

In the Daily Mirror, MP for Wells, Tessa Munt (and potential candidate to be Deputy Leader?), has been taking our case to its readers;

We’ve delivered more policies we’ve been working on for some time – like free school meals for primary school children, a supermarket Ombudsman and shared parental leave.

Most importantly of all, we’ve done even more to make our tax system fairer – taking the low paid out of paying income tax altogether and nailing an agreement to give workers a bonus of over £700 in April next year by raising the point when you start paying tax.

My name is Poppy and I have the privilege of working in Tessa Munt’s office and I thought readers would enjoy my take on what is my most exciting week at work to date!

The Monday reshuffle was exciting stuff, I was monitoring twitter all day – that Tim Farron gave me all the updates I needed! I am especially pleased for Susan Kramer going to Transport, we need more girlies in Government. Today I have been working on some messages about what we have done in Government. I started as an apprentice for Tessa so I really like the jobs campaign…also I am enjoying keeping more of what I earn and have bought myself a new sparkly collar this week as I have a special event to go to. Tomorrow I have been given the day off to prepare for my special day on Thursday, where I will be leaving Somerset for the first time and going all the way to London to compete in Parliamentary Dog of the Year!

When the boss lady asked me to go I was thrilled! She said I deserved to go as I have done an excellent job at keeping morale up in the office as well as getting ‘Team Tessa’ fitter. The pressure is high because the Tories always win and I want to be the first Liberal Democrat doggie to win the crown for us. You can help me do this by voting for me here!

Call the Feline Rights Commission! How, in these equality sensitive times, did anyone think it appropriate to set up a beauty contest for MPs’ dogs whilst ignoring all the much-loved cats in MPs’ homes?

Of course, while dogs are owned by their humans, cats own people. So getting my fellow moggies to express our collective opposition to such undeserved canine fame is like – well – herding cats. But a tactical Early Day Motion from a cat-loving Parliamentarian would not go amiss (can you hear me, John Hemming?)

But – I am a Liberal Democrat cat, so I am used to forcing my political loyalties to overcome my distaste. I therefore feel obliged to draw your attention to two of the entries.

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 500 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

LDV asked: Which backbench Lib Dem MPs who are not current ministers would you like to see promoted? (Please write-in.)(NB: I’ve set the cut-off for inclusion in this list at 5 individual mentions.)

It is my firm belief that local people know the area they live in best, village to village, town to town.

I have been asked to have a think about what policy changes should be made so that people in rural areas get a fairer deal and the resultant rural policy paper will be presented at Autumn Conference. Clearly, we must be realistic – none of us expects to have major services (such as hospitals) on our doorstep. However, it seems to me that there are some areas of Government policy which could reflect rural needs more effectively.

Here’s a round-up of stories we haven’t had time to cover on the site this past week…

Lib Dem MP Tessa Munt is taking on sexism in the BBC: ‘The BBC must ensure there are more women presenters and executives working on its radio network if it is to justify its licence fee, MP Tessa Munt said today after she found that in some cases there were fewer female voices than 25 years ago.’

The FT reports how Danny Alexander, Lib Dem Treasury chief secretary, has highlighted a crackdown on high pay in the public sector: Danny has

My starting point is, I am afraid, we are going to have keep all these cuts. There is a big squeeze happening on budgets across the piece. The squeeze on defence spending, for instance, is £15bn by 2015. We are going to have to start from that being the baseline. At this stage, we can make no commitments to reverse any of that, on spending or on tax. So I am being absolutely clear about that.

Liberal Democrats can be rightly proud of their record on challenging like-for-like Trident replacement and keeping Britain’s nuclear weapons near the top of the political agenda – certainly during the last general election campaign. But now it looks as though their coalition partners are moving to stifle the gains they have made. Not only has the Defence Secretary announced the suppression of the Lib Dem-led Trident Alternatives Review. He is also making a mockery of the delayed Trident replacement decision – scheduled for 2016 – by committing to spend £6 billion before that decision date. This is hardly fair play …

LibDem Julian Huppert started Prime Minister’s Questions with a zinger today. He said that jobs and growth depend on consumer confidence, and asked if, therefore, the PM thinks that telling 25 million people that they have no job security and could be fired tomorrow will help consumer confidence (this refers to the proposal from Tory businessman Adrian Beecroft). David Cameron had no answer but instead, as always, threw his briefing notes at the questioner (metaphorically speaking).

I should also mention, en passant, that Julian asked for suggestions for his first question via Twitter. Good man.

Our constitution has many interesting anomalies, but to me one of the most obvious has always been the way we treat the ‘nearly-adults’ in our society. Our 16 and 17 year olds are subject to a whole set of rules that are thrown out of the window when they turn 18; similarly, they are unable to do a whole set of things that they are suddenly allowed to on that most auspicious day. We don’t let these nearly-adults vote, have credit cards or bind themselves into a credit agreement. They can, however, commit themselves to an extended period in the …

Conferences are a foundation stone of being a Liberal Democrat. There have been some really huge and important ones – Brighton, 2002, where we laid out a principled position on Iraq; Llandudno, 1981, where Shirley Williams and David Steel spoke passionately in favour of an alliance; Sheffield, 2011, when we opposed the NHS reforms. Conference is the best way for the membership to exert their influence over the leadership. Past leaders, from Steel to Ashdown, from Kennedy to Clegg, have often feared Conference for the skill and passion with which it has put its arguments. And so the tradition of …

Those seeking a fairer voting system may be rather more dismayed if the Guardian is correct that there are difficulties getting Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg working together in support of the referendum. Political rivalry over other issues should not prevent all supporters of reform from campaigning for a cause on which they agree. Lessons should be learned from the Scottish referendum in 1997

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Over 660 party members have responded, and we’re currently publishing the full results.

LDV asked: Which of the newly elected Lib Dem MPs has genuinely impressed you to date?

Our sample of party members could tick as many (or few) of the 10 ‘newbie’ MPs as they liked. Here are the top five:

As this BBC Somerset report excitedly notes, Tessa Munt is “the first Liberal Democrat MP for Wells since World War II”, having defeated Tory incumbent David Heathcote-Amory in May.

You can read here about how she’s settling into her new office (“The most important thing for me was making sure we were actually accessible from ever single part of the constituency”), furnished with recycled fittings (“I did actually do a raid on some of the outgoing MPs offices. … I don’t frankly mind if my box files are second hand.”).

LDV is continuing the tradition started on Cix of re-posting maiden speeches of new Lib Dem MPs for the delectation and comment of our own community. You can catch up on those published to date here. Today is Tessa Munt’s turn …

It is an honour to follow Jim Shannon and to address the House for the first time on behalf of the people of Wells, the most beautiful constituency in the country. Yes it is.

First, I wish to pay tribute to my predecessor, David Heathcoat-Amory, who sat in the House for 27 years, a longer period of